The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-14561, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of attaching a board connector to be attached to a circuit board, and the board connector as well as the attachment structure of the same.
2. Related Art
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a conventional board connector 101 is provided with a multiplicity of print circuit board (PCB) terminals 107 protruding from the lower surface 105 (the lower direction in FIG. 6) of an insulation housing 103 and also provided with attachment brackets 109 protruding outside from the lower end portions of the left and right side surfaces (left and right side surfaces in FIG. 6) 103L, 103R of the insulation housing 103, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 8, in the case of attaching the board connector 101 configured in the aforesaid manner to an electric circuit board 111, it has been generally performed that the PCB terminals 107 are inserted into the predetermined through holes 113 of the electric circuit board 111, and screws 117 are threaded into screw holes 115 provided at the electric circuit board 111 thereby to fix the attachment bracket 109 of the board connector 101 to the board.
However, in the case of fixing the board connector 101 to the board 111 by means of the screws 117 in the aforesaid manner, the number of the manufacturing processes increases due to the fastening process of the screws. Further, screw attachment portions such as the attachment brackets 109 may be broken due to an excessive torque caused by the fastening operation of the screws 117, so that a worker is required to perform the fastening processes carefully. Thus, there arises a problem that the cost of a product increases.
Further, when the screws 117 are not suitably fastened, the board connector 101 is not surely fixed to the electric circuit board 111 and so may wobble thereby to cause loose connection.
Further, in the case of fixing the board connector 101 to the electric circuit board 111, it is required to pass the multiplicity of PCB terminals 107 through the predetermined through holes 113. Thus, the board connector 101 is required to be positioned accurately with respect to the electric circuit board 111, and so there arises a problem that the positioning procedure is troublesome.
In view of such problems, a board connector as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. JP 06-A-52913 is proposed.
That is, as shown in FIG. 9, a board connector 119 is arranged so as to be attached to an electric circuit board easily in a manner that attachment leg portions 125 having engagement projections 123 at the tip portions thereof are provided at both side surfaces 121L, 121R of an insulation housing 121, respectively, and the attachment leg portions are engaged with the not-shown attachment holes of the electric circuit board, respectively.
However, even in the board connector 119 disclosed in the aforesaid JP 06-A-52913, the positioning procedure is also difficult at the time of attaching the board connector 119 to the electric circuit board. That is, it is first required to insert PCB terminals 127 into not-shown predetermined through holes before engaging the attachment leg portions 125 with the attachment holes of the electric circuit board. In this case, there arises a problem that it is difficult to insert the multiplicity of the PCB terminals 127 into the plurality of the through holes simultaneously, and the PCB terminals 127 may be bent when these terminals are not being inserted correctly.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to obviate the aforesaid problem of the conventional technique and to provide a method of attaching a board connector to a circuit board and the board connector which can easily insert Terminals into the through holes of a circuit board and prevent the wobbling of the connector with respect to the board.
The aforesaid object of the invention can be attained by A method of attaching a board connector, comprising the steps of:
positioning the board connector relatively with respect to the circuit board by inserting a tip end portion of a positioning projection protruding in an attachment direction from an attachment surface of the board connector opposing to a circuit board into a corresponding positioning hole provided at the circuit board;
inserting tip end portions of terminals protruding in the attachment direction from the attachment surface into through holes of the circuit board; and
fixing the board connector to the circuit board by engaging an attachment arm provided at a side surface of the board connector and extending in the attachment direction with an attachment portion provided at the circuit board.
The aforesaid object of the invention can be attained by a board connector attachment structure including terminals protruding in an attachment direction from an attachment surface thereof opposing to a circuit board, the attachment structure comprising:
a positioning projection protruding in an attachment direction from the attachment surface, the positioning projection having a projecting height higher than projection heights of the terminals from the attachment surface, the positioning projection being inserted into a positioning hole provided at the circuit board prior to insertion of the terminals into through holes; and
an attachment arm provided at a side surface of the board connector and protruding in the attachment direction, the attachment arm being engaged with an attachment portion provided at the circuit board, whereby the board connector is fixed to the circuit board.
That is, according to the aforesaid configuration, first, the tip end portion of the positioning projection provided at the attachment surface of the board connector is inserted into the positioning hole provided at the circuit board, whereby the terminals protruding in the attachment-direction from the attachment surface can be inserted into the through holes provided at the circuit board in the state where the board connector is relatively positioned with respect to the circuit board.
Further, since the attachment arm provided at a side of an insulation housing is engaged with the attachment portion of the circuit board, the board connector can be simply and surely fixed to the circuit board.
In the above attachment structure of the board connector, preferably, a groove is formed at a tip end portion of the positioning projection, and the groove is split into at least two pieces in a longitudinal direction of the positioning projection, and the tip end of the positioning projection is elastically deformed in a radial direction of the positioning hole when the positioning projection is inserted into the positioning hole.
Thus, the positioning projection is formed to have a relatively longer length so that the positioning projection can be inserted into the positioning hole of the circuit board prior to the insertion of the tip end portion of the terminals into the through holes. Thus, even when the positioning projection is inserted aslant with respect to the circuit board, since the tip end portion can be deformed elastically in the radial direction of the positioning hole, the insertion property of the positioning projection into the positioning hole is hardly degraded.
After the positioning projections are inserted into the positioning hole, due to the spring function of the positioning projection which tip end portion can be deformed elastically in the radial direction, the positioning projection is prevented from being wobbled with respect to the positioning hole.
In the above attachment structure of the board connector, the positioning projection may have a projecting height higher than a projection height of the attachment arm from the attachment surface.
Further another aspect of the invention can be attained by a board connector comprising terminals protruding in an attachment direction from an attachment surface; a positioning projection protruding in the attachment direction from the attachment surface; and an attachment arm provided at a side surface of the board connector and extending in the attachment direction, the attachment arm having an engagement projection at a tip end thereof;
wherein a projecting height of the positioning projection is provided higher than projection heights of the terminals from the attachment surface.